Saturday January 16 - LAUNCH OF AIR FORCE DELTA 2 ROCKET POSTPONED UNTIL TUESDAY.
An Air Force Delta 2 rocket loaded with a trio of research satellites will remain on
earth until at least Tuesday following today's scrubbed launch attempt at Vandenberg Air
Force Base, California. Following a weather briefing today, officials made the decision to
reschedule the mission for Tuesday during a window of 5:39:52 to 5:48 AM EST
(1039:52-1048 UTC). The postponement to Tuesday was based on the need for crew rest
and the unlikely improvement in wind conditions over the next day or two, officials said.

Today's attempt was halted because of three problems. As was the case Friday, upper
level winds were out of limits. Also, the range was red because of predictions that
indicated winds could blow debris from a launch accident outside the safety zone, and a
problem with a command destruct transmitter at a downrange tracking station.

The two stage Boeing rocket is carrying the Air
Force's Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite as its primary payload. Two
smaller spacecraft, Denmark's ěrsted and South Africa's SUNSAT, are also hitching a ride
into low Earth orbit on Delta 226.

The Miami Tropical Hamboree is quickly approaching (February 6-7, 1999) and we're
looking for volunteers to help man the AMSAT booth at the Hamboree. The Hamfest will be
held at the Fair Expo Center, SW 112th Avenue & Coral Way
(sw 24th Street). Miami is a major hamfest with strong attendance from the
Caribbean, Central America, and South America as well as the Southeast US. We need
folks to volunteer for a 'tour of duty' during a portion of the Hamboree.

In addition to the exhibit, the hamfest committee has scheduled an AMSAT Forum for the
Saturday Afternoon (1500-1600). Check the Hamfest program guide for particulars.

If you are interested in helping out (even if for only an hour), please send Barry
Baines an e-mail (wd4asw@amsat.org) and let him know:

What hours are you willing to volunteer (multiples of 1 hour) on Saturday
(0900-1700) and/or Sunday (0900-1500)

Your name and callsign and e-mail address.

Any special skills in software, hardware etc.

Miami is a unique opportunity to represent AMSAT to an international audience. If at
all possible please consider giving us a hand during this event.

The PBBS is running a Kantronics KPC-9612 + V.8.1 TNC. The commands are similar to most
PBBS and BBS systems.

MIREX has announced an on going APRS School Days Test. MIREX is allowing schools to use
APRS for position and status reports via R0MIR. Non-school stations are asked to refrain
from using APRS type transmissions or beacons via R0MIR.

Scott, WA6LIE, has a set of instructions on how to work the Mir space station. Copies
of the instructions are available from Scott by e-mail at wa6lie@juno.com,
or by packet at wa6lie@wa6lie.#wcca.ca.usa.noam.

[ANS thanks Scott Avery, WA6LIE, and the MIREX team for Mir status information]

AO-10 continues to function well with the exception of the periodic deep QSB, which can
be partially eliminated by switching antenna polarization. Strong signals have been heard
even at apogee. Also note that AO-10's apogee has passed its most northern point. This
gives the satellite track (on a rectangular Mercator map projection) a distinctly
symmetrical pattern. The apogee has now begun a slow migration southward.

W4SM tells ANS that he has, using ranging software (and hardware) developed by James
Miller, G3RUH, recently made ranging measurements on AO-10 for the last week and have fed
these measurements into an algorithm which generates modified Keplerian elements from a
"seed" set of elements. The Keplerian elements generated appear to be accurate
within 16-25 km.

The present JA mode of operation will continue to investigate the frequency of bit
errors in the on-board-computer. Reports from Amateurs on the value of channel 2A are
appreciated. The position of 2A is the fifth item after 'HI HI' in CW telemetry. The
normal value is '00'. Reports should be sent to lab@jarl.or.jp.

The FO-29 Command Team says digital (JD) mode operation may be available soon.
Digi-talker operation is also being planned.

AA7KC reports KO-23 is operational, returning to full service on January 4th.
KyungHee Kim, on behalf of the KITSAT command team, reported to ANS that the downlink
transmitter on KO-23 was tripped recently. He reports the problem has happened several
times for unknown reasons.

The mode-S beacon is ON, transmitting an unmodulated carrier, but telemetry indicates
that it has partially failed, and delivering half power. This beacon is a useful test
source for those testing mode-S converters, prior to the launch of P3-D. The
435.025 MHz beacon is normally off.

The AO-16 command team has authorized an APRS experiment on AO-16 to explore the use of
the 1200-baud PACSAT for APRS position/status reporting. The test periods will run each
Tuesday from 0000 to 2359 UTC.

TMSAT-1 is now open for general access by Amateur Radio operators worldwide. Normal
access will allow operators to use the store and forward communications on the spacecraft
and also download the high-resolution multispectral images.

Chris, G7UPN, tells ANS that during software loading (and other command activities)
ground control stations may close the satellite BBS to general users. This ensures that
command activity is not obstructed or slowed by user traffic. This also allows ground
control stations to complete these activities much quicker.

Downlink 437.910 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions.

SEDSAT-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite
number one, was successfully launched and placed in orbit on Saturday, October 24,
1998.

SedSat is continuing to perform as it has since launch, transmitting telemetry until
the batteries are depleted and then going into safe mode (for about ten hours) and then
repeating the process. "The orbital geometry is such that we have had as much as
120 hours of continuous operation from the bird before the batteries die," said
Dennis, KD4ETA. Recovery efforts continue.

For more information on SedSat-1, including Version 1.2 of the SedSat ground
station software -- visit the satellite web site at the following URL:

Downlink frequency not established.
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions.

PANSAT, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched from the shuttle
Discovery. PANSAT spread-spectrum digital transponders will be available to amateur radio
operators in the near future along with software to utilize this technology. The PO-34
command station is located in Monterey, California.

Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, PANSAT Project Manager recommends 'The ARRL Spread Spectrum
Sourcebook' as a good place to start in understanding the spread-spectrum scheme.

The PANSAT Team does not expect the satellite to be available to the Amateur Radio
community for another few months.

Russian cosmonauts successfully launched RS-18/Sputnik 41 on November 10,
1998, during a spacewalk from the Mir space station. The satellite stopped transmitting
early on December 11, 1998, meeting the 30 day projected lifetime. If the
Goddard Space Flight Center forecast is correct, RS-18/Sputnik 41 should have re-entered
and burned up in the atmosphere on January 7, 1999.

A computer .wav file of the actual received signal can also be found at:

DOVE stopped transmitting in March 1998. The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz
downlinks are off the air and the satellite has not responded to ground station control.
Command stations will again attempt contact in the near future.

When the satellite is operating, QSL cards for receiving DOVE may be obtained from: